


Saru no Tebukuro

by down



Category: Tokyo Babylon
Genre: Childhood, Gen, Pre-Canon, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-31
Updated: 2012-07-31
Packaged: 2017-11-11 03:48:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/474177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Subaru comes back home, he's even quieter than before. Hokuto isn't going to let anyone take him away from her again. (pre canon)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saru no Tebukuro

**Author's Note:**

  * For [russian_blue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/russian_blue/gifts).



> I went with the request for Hokuto and Subaru backstory, and then Hokuto took over, and I realised I had to write from the pov of a child, heh. Hopefully it's not too bad... Warnings for brief hints of future angst, and pretty much no plot.
> 
> Japanese used: a couple of honorifics, -kun for a young boy, -chan for a young girl, Obaa-chan as an affectionate term for Grandmother, and Obaa-chama (which is a mixture of -chan and -sama, apparently) as a cute, respectful, and affectionate term for Grandmother. (Because Hokuto never does anything usual. *grin*)

Hokuto scrambled up into the tree too fast, scraping her knee on the bark but ignoring it until she’d reached her favourite branch. From here she could see back over the whole of the garden to the house, but no one would spot her unless they were really close, not even when she was in her brightest pink t-shirt. She looked back, hoping Subaru might have escaped and come out after her, but the garden was still empty. Not that Subaru would ever skip training, but he’d been training for a whole year! Surely he didn’t need to do it all weekend _too._

 _Then_ she sighed, and looked at her knee.

The graze wasn’t too bad, but she’d ripped the bottom of her shorts, badly enough she was probably going to get in trouble over that. Not that it mattered. She was in trouble anyway.

Hokuto swung her legs hard enough she rocked on her branch, kicking the air. “Just for making them leave Subaru alone!” she declared to the sky, still indignant. “I didn’t even do much!”

“Is _that_ why you were fighting yesterday, Hokuto-chan?”

“Obaa-chama!” Hokuto nearly tipped off the branch, tilting to stare at the figure at the base of the tree before pushing off and flinging herself downwards, jumping from the last branch to land neatly in front of her grandmother. She bowed, rubbing grubby palms against her shorts. “…Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, Hokuto-chan.” Obaa-chama replied. She looked just the same as ever, tall and imposing, always the head of the family. Hokuto couldn’t imagine Subaru growing up to be like her.

Looking her straight in the eyes, Hokuto said “Have you come to take Subaru away again?”

“Not this time.” The reply came calmly. “I merely have a job in Kyoto I would like him to attend with me tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Hokuto relaxed a fraction. “Good.”

“…He _will_ have to travel more from now, you realise. Subaru-kun is talented, but he needs to practise his skills.”

“I understand.” Hokuto smiled at her now. “It’s just that I’m coming with him from now on, but there’s a group presentation at school on Monday, and I don’t want to miss it.”

Their grandmother hesitated. “Hokuto-chan, you know that you will not be able to learn to do what Subaru-kun can do.”

“Of course not. Subaru’s amazing!” Whatever else, she was so proud of her little brother that she could explode from it at times. “But he never ever looks after himself, so while he’s working, I’m going to protect _him_.”

“Like you did from these boys at school?”

“They were being mean to him!” Hokuto snapped, and her eyes were prickling with heat. She clenched her fists at her sides, remembering Subaru’s expression as the boys gathered round him, making fun of his gloves. The ones their Obaa-chama had ordered that he wear all the time, even in classes. “I’d do it again!”

“Hokuto-chan…”

“No one _else_ has to wear gloves.” Hokuto grumbled, looking down at her hands, scratched and grubby from the climbing. “Everyone else is in uniform, and then there’s Subaru. …I tried wearing a pair as well, so he wouldn’t be alone, but the teachers made me take them off. They can always tell who we are now.”

“You _are_ growing older.” Obaa-chama patted Hokuto on the head, which she endured with a frown. She was getting older – too old to be petted like a five year old! – but that wasn’t the problem.

“Subaru’s been even quieter since he came home.” She clasped her hands behind her back and stared down at the floor, at anything but the person who should have been looking out for Subaru all last year, and who had returned him to Hokuto almost silent, with gloves he wasn’t allowed to take off.

* * *

Hokuto had talked him into going to the Monkey Park last month, to celebrate his coming home, and it had taken her almost an hour to persuade him they could have the day off from chores and practising. Subaru had _always_ loved feeding the monkeys; they bought banana slices this time to offer through the netting, laughing as the slender hands reached through to snatch the treats away, and they took ages to come back down, because they were watching three monkeys playing on the long metal slide down the hillside, and then they saw a deer halfway down the path and Subaru refused to move until it had gone, in case they startled it.

They lived close enough it wasn’t a problem, only by the time they got back to the bridge over the river they were both hot and thirsty, as well as dusty. “I’ll buy ice-cream!” Hokuto declared, and waved aside Subaru’s protests he could buy his own. “I’m your older sister, I should treat you! Why don’t you find a seat in the park?” And she shooed him away under the trees by the river before turning back to the road to find the closest shop with a freezer.

It was summer now, so there weren’t so many people crowding the riverside benches as there were in cherry blossom season, but it was still full of tourists. Hokuto dodged three littler children intent on their bug-hunt as she brought the ice-creams back to Subaru, ducking under the waving nets.

When she found Subaru, he hadn’t sat down at all. He was staring at one of the trees, unmoving. The cherry blossom season was over, there was nothing to see but the green of the leaves. Nothing _Hokuto_ could see, anyway.

She sidled up to Subaru quietly, biting her lip. She didn’t want to interrupt if this was an onmyouji thing she couldn’t sense, but he wasn’t chanting. He wasn’t doing anything but staring up at the branches, and his expression was so calm it was nearly blank.

“Subaru?” She asked, when the ice cream started to drip. “…Is there a spirit in the tree or something?” He blinked, and then flinched like she’d jabbed him.

“Don’t sneak up like that, Hokuto-neesan!”

“I didn’t sneak! You weren’t paying attention. What if someone had tried to kidnap you?” She thrust the ice cream at him. “Here.”

“Thank you. Don’t people get kidnapped at nighttime usually?” 

“Maybe, but I’m not letting _anyone_ take you away again. If they try, they’ll answer to Sumeragi Hokuto!”

Subaru protested the pose she struck, and she had to admit, it didn’t look so dramatic when she nearly threw her ice-cream away doing it. She towed him to one of the benches right by the water, timing their arrival just so they sat down after a family got up from it, disappointing a group of lurking tourists. Subaru frowned, but she grinned at him. “You have to be faster than that to get a bench here in the height of summer. If we hadn’t sat down, someone else would have done so.” The frown didn’t vanish; Hokuto grabbed for another topic to distract him with. “Say, Subaru… do you still want to be a zoo keeper one day?”

He smiled, but it was one of those smiles he wore to reassure everyone else, not because he felt like smiling. “I do, but I guess that won’t happen now. I’m going to spend a lot of time working as an onmyouji, like Obaa-chan, and she’s hardly ever home for long. I couldn’t look after a Zoo and do that too. It wouldn't be fair on the animals, to leave them alone so much.”

“But isn’t that what you _want_ to do?” She demanded, and when he just kept smiling at her she got angrier, nearly squashing the ice-cream she held. “Isn’t that what you wanted more than anything?”

“I want to do my best, for Obaa-chan and Hokuto-chan and everyone else.” He said, and his smile never faltered.

Hokuto sighed, and flopped back on the bench. She couldn’t ever change Subaru’s mind once he’d really decided on something.

* * *

Now, stood with Obaa-chama under the pine trees in the garden, Hokuto remembered Subaru having to keep his hands hidden all the way home change his gloves when they got in because the ice cream had dripped on his fingers and left a bright green stain on the fabric.

“Hokuto-chan...” Obaa-chama sighed again, but there was a smile hiding in her eyes. “You can’t fight Subaru-kun’s battles for him. He can defend himself.”

“But he _doesn’t_. …Obaa-chama? Does Subaru _really_ need to keep those gloves on all the time?”

Their grandmother stopped smiling. Slowly, she crouched down in front of Hokuto and took her hands. “Hokuto-chan. If you’re serious about protecting Subaru-kun, then you must make certain that he never goes anywhere, does _anything_ , without those gloves on. Not even playing in the garden with you.”

“…Not even at school?” Hokuto asked, in a small voice.

Obaa-chama shook her head. “Not even at school. Can you do that? Help him wear them all the time?”

“If it’s for Subaru.” Hokuto nodded, biting down on her lip. She didn’t know why she hated the gloves so much, the way they felt under her hand when she dragged Subaru along with her, but for him… 

“Go on and play then, Hokuto-chan.” Obaa-chama smiled at her, and for a moment even her eyes looked happy. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make wearing them easier for Subaru. And perhaps, if you learned to fix your clothes yourself, then you wouldn’t get into trouble when you tear them climbing trees?”

Hokuto blinked, and then grinned. She tore back up to the house and into her room, and she had a _plan_.

If Subaru’s clothes matched his gloves, then they’d be just part of his outfit. Subaru's clothes were all _boring_ anyway, he needed new things. And if she could _make_ him clothes fancy enough that the gloves looked normal, she’d be able to persuade Subaru to wear them – after all, he _always_ did his best to make his sister happy!

(If she could make things for herself too, even better – they could coordinate, and then Subaru wouldn’t be alone at all.)

And she thought she knew _just_ where to start.

* * *

Two days later, Hokuto walked into the next meeting of the school’s costume club and looked about, assessing the piles of multi-coloured fabric, the sewing machine with a bemused-looking upper-classman behind it, the ribbon and lace spilling over the tables. Slowly, she smiled.

“Excuse me, but who might you be?” one of the older students said, standing to walk over.

Hokuto beamed at her. “I’m Sumeragi Hokuto, and from today, I’m joining this club!”

**Author's Note:**

> Completely Random Content Notes: I’ve put the Sumeragi family house in the Arashiyama district of Kyoto (based mostly on one shot I think is Togetsukyo Bridge in the X anime when it cuts to their grandmother); Iwatayama Monkey Park is on the top of a hill over the bridge, Nakanoshima Park is the park on the bank of the river, and it’s one of the most popular hanami locations in Kyoto. 
> 
> The title means 'monkey's glove(s)'; saru no te means 'monkey's paw(s)', and is an item in Japanese folklore which can grant wishes, but usually the wisher comes to a bad end. (They certainly do in CLAMP manga anyway.) (I am very bad at titling things, and thought it sounded marginally less daft in Japanese than it would translated?)
> 
> I couldn't decide whether Hokuto would actually address her Grandmother as 'Obaa-chama', but it's what she uses when she's talking about her in the one volume of the manga I actually have in Japanese, so I stuck to it. I also couldn't work out if an elementary school would really have a costume club, but didn't find a reason it couldn't...


End file.
